Tesla charging technology put on fast track to become US standard | Hacker News Reader

Tesla charging technology put on fast track to become US standard

reuters.com

44 pointsthunderbong18 comments

Now that SAE is formalizing it, I wonder what conflicts can be expected if SAE becomes the organizing body for the maintenance and upkeep of the standard. Is this SAE's role? Can Tesla make a change to NACS in the future which purposely gives Tesla cars an advantage? For example, program Superchargers so only Tesla cars will receive higher charging power but downrated for other EVs?

> if SAE becomes the organizing body for the maintenance and upkeep of the standard. Is this SAE's role?

Yes, just as IEC maintains the standard for Type 2 and CCS Type 2 Combo plugs and inlets. The latest revision of IEC 62196 specifies support for up to 1,500 volts and 800 amps for DC charging:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEC_62196

It'll be a while before cars and chargers implement that.

> For example, program Superchargers so only Tesla cars will receive higher charging power but downrated for other EVs?

Some EVs are already downrated in practice because Tesla chargers are only 400 volts which means 800 volt EVs can't achieve their maximum charge rate.

The maximum the Kia EV6 can charge at on a 400 volt charger is 100 kW, rather than the 230+ kW it can achieve on an 800 volt charger. On a Tesla V4 charger an EV6 can only get 42 kW at the moment:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEJ2KtzMeh8

On a Tesla V2 charger it gets 97 kW as expected.

All chargers in North America will be CCS chargers just with Tesla's plug on the end. If Tesla chargers still can't deliver 800 volts then the solution is to use another one that does.

Is that a time like /h in your unit?

kW is power, kWh is energy. kW/h is a known typo

I mean, you could use kWh/h....

Which is kW

Every competitor that has said they're adopting NACS has stated the earliest it'd be would be 2025. Tesla is rumored to be deploying 800+V systems for the Cybertruck, so I fully expect there will be plenty of 800V capable superchargers by the time we start seeing NACS on other cars.

Also, the only cars I'm aware of that use 800V for the super fast charge rates are Hyundai, Kia, and Porsche, none of which have yet agreed to NACS yet.

> I fully expect there will be plenty of 800V capable superchargers

There are plenty of 800 volt chargers available now, just not from Tesla.

> Also, the only cars I'm aware of that use 800V for the super fast charge rates are Hyundai, Kia, and Porsche

You're going by brands rather than groups but you can add Lucid, Genesis, Audi, GM, and Chevrolet as brands with 800 volt charging vehicles. More cars will be on 800 volt platforms in a couple of years. Tesla better get upgrading.

We can see an alternate future where NACS becomes so successful and then Mr Musk goes on a tantrum and decides on building another Tesla plug. What reasons could compel him to backtrack or is it too late?

Sure, the EA 350 kW is capable of 800V. Good point about smaller brands that do have some 800V offerings. Pretty small amount of cars shipped, though, compared to Hyundai/Kia.

Wait isn't this exactly what the original commenter is concerned about? The charging infrastructure will lag the state of the art until Tesla's car business can catch up.

I guess that does assume nobody else builds better chargers in the meantime.

Is every car expected to support both Tesla's new standard and the existing standard? Or is there expected to be a transition to this new standard, making all existing EVs giant expensive mountains of e-waste? Or will this just contribute to a non-interoperable charging network where you have to find a charging station which works with your particular car?

I don't see why retrofit kits couldn't be a thing or at the very least some sort of adapter should become available.

This is the unfortunate risk of being an early adopter of technology. There is just never any good way of predicting how standards will shake out and a lot of times you do your homework and you still choose wrong.

The Federal government mandates (existing) CCS support at the charger through subsidies. No need to modify cars.

$1M question: So how locked with DRM and patents will it evolve into putting up barriers in the way of hobbyists, modders, DIY, and anyone else without an NDA?

doesn't Tesla famously open source all of their patents?

Great news.

Tesla NACS is generally better for consumers than CCS.

Seems we learnt our lesson from the VHS/Betamax debacle after all.

Amazing work Tesla. You did it.

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